Today, polluting emissions (NOx, SOx, CO, etc.) and particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel transportation sector represents one third of the overall CO2 emissions in the world; therefore reducing the CO2 emission from vehicles is now an important global challenge. Efficiency of fossil based engines such as gasoline and diesel was always, and still is, the motivating element for many research and development programs worldwide and it is of prime importance in driving the worldwide economy. Engine efficiency and emissions are primarily related to the quality of combustion during both spark ignition of gasoline fuel and compression ignition of diesel fuel. In fact, high octane and cetane numbers, key quality parameters for gasoline and diesel, respectively, as well as (hydrogen) H2 rich fuels, offer the promise of improvements in both emissions and efficiency.
Although the development of a fully H2-oriented automobile industry has been the focus of extensive research and development in academia and industry for many years, the questions of how to create, deliver and store H2 economically and technically have still not been answered. Behind the apparent simplicity of direct H2 fuel vehicles lay the problems of H2 supply and on-board storage; these have no quick-fix solutions. On-board reforming technology, to produce high purity H2 for fuel cells, does not offer clear advantages over gasoline/diesel internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles.
Alternative approaches using metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for on-board reforming and upgrading of fossil fuels (gasoline, diesel, methanol or ethanol) to H2 rich and high RON gasoline and high CN diesel for ICE systems can have many benefits in reducing the complications and capital investments needed to develop a fuel infrastructure that can support the emerging H2 vehicle market.